MAN RAY

(American, 1890 – 1976)
Électricité, 1931
The complete portfolio of ten photogravures of Rayographs by the artist, printed in Paris. This example is one of the numbered editions of 500, numbered on the colophon. In the original cardboard portfolio case, and with a personal printed gift card.

The portfolio was commissioned by the French power company, La Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d'Electricité, which they distributed to their executives and better customers as part of an effort to promote the use of electricity in French households. It comes with a text by Pierre Bost, a popular writer and journalist of the period.

Each gravure is hinged to a mount and enclosed in the original translucent glassine wrapper; each signed separately (in the negative).

Each sheet measures approximately: 14 3/4 by 10 7/8 in. (37.47 by 27.62 cm)
Each image measures approximately: 10 1/4 by 8 in. (26.04 by 20.32 cm)
Portfolio measures approximately: 15 by 11 1/4 by 3/8 in. (38.1 by 28.58 by 7.62 cm)
Catalogue Raisonné: Scheer 258-259

The photogravures include:
(1) Électricité (Nude Torso)
(2) Le Souffle (Fan)
(3) Cuisine (Fowl)
(4) Lingerie (Iron and Hand)
(5) Salle a Manger (Toaster)
(6) Salle de Bain (Nude Torso)
(7) La Maison (Light Bulbs and Lamp Shade)
(8) La Ville (Montmartre Marquees)
(9) Le Monde (Moon and Switch)
(10) Électricité (Light Bulb)

© Man Ray Trust, © Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY and © ADAGP, Paris

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MAN RAY

(American, 1890 – 1976)
Lampshade, 1964
Spiral hanging object fashioned of spray-painted aluminum (after the original version from 1919, later lost)
Height: 28 in. (71.12 cm) extended (hanging) 
Artist Proof: separate from an edition of 100

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Man Ray was born in Philadelphia and spent the first 30 years of his life in New York. He spent most of the succeeding years in Paris, except for the 1940’s when he lived in Los Angeles.

Man Ray divided his creative time between painting, photography and the rendering of very unique objects, of which an early example was “Lampshade”, first devised in New York in 1919.

He was an original member of the Dada Group and continued as a Surrealist from its inception in 1924. His greatest allegiance, however, was always to his greatest love, Dada, and whenever he was interviewed concerning his biographical details, he always described himself as a Dadaist before any other identifications.